Typewriting machine



' A. 1623042 Apnl. 5 192f7- 3. F. BARR-ER TYPEWRITING MACHINE Filed March 14. 1922 lllllIPHIIlIlllzplllllllllvlll-ll'llll, "l UF' qdlllillllwlll .Patented Apr. 5,1927. f 1,623,042

'UNITED s'm'riasA PATENT oFl-"i-cia.

BENJAMIN F. BVARXEl, OF EL PASO, TEXAS, ASSIGNOR T UNDERWOOD TYPEWRITER COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A COEPORATION OF DELAWARE.

TYPEWRITING MACHINE.

Application filed March 14, 1922. Serial No. 543,633.

'lhe invention relates to line-'centering comprises .the usual main frame 1, upon equipment for typewriting machines. which is mounted to travel for letter-feed- The object of the invention is to produce lng movement the usual platen-carrying a silnple mechanical device readily attachcarriage 2, which at the front of the maable to the ty'pewriting machine to enable chine travels upon the usual front rail 3 60 the quick and accurate centering of a lineextending across the front of the machine of writing between the side edges of a work frame l. The usual inclined front bar or Sheet, plate 4 of the machine frame lhas lixed The invention broadly comprises means thereon the usual letter-space'scale 5 of a to center a line of writing between the two length to correspond with the extreme 65 usual adjustable ,margin-stops. The invenlimits of travel of the carriage 2 and protion further provides a line-centering scale vided with the usual graduations or lettermember having thereon double letter-space space indications, shown as numbered `from indications reversely numbered relatively to 0 to 80 from right lo lei't or in the direcl5 the single letter-space scale of the typewrittion of the letter-feeding travel of the car- 70 ing machine, and mounted upon the typeriage, and the carriage 2, at a middle point writing machine to be slidably adjusted transversely thereof, is provided with the along the letter-space scale and relatively Iusual letter-space indicating pointer 6 to to the usual adjustable margin-stops for co-operate with the letter-space scale 5. The the carriage.l More particularly, the linemachine also has the usual right and left 75 centering scale member is in the form of a margin-stops 7 and 8 adjustable by letterribbon or tape extending in a single reach space intervals on the usual rockshaft 9 across the single letter-space scale, Wound and provided, respectively, with the usual at its ends upon spools journaled in readily pointers 10 and 1l to co-operate with the attachable and detachable vbrackets or spoolletter-space scale 5. 80 mounts secured to the opposite sides of the According to the present invention, a l typewriting machine frame, lmeans being line-centering scale member, shown as in f provided for rotating the spools to adjust `the form of a. ribbon 12, extends longitudithe scale ribbon to' different longitudinal nally along and above the lower part ot' positions, which are determined by the adthe letter-space scale 5, and, for line-centbi'- 85 justed positions of the margin-stops. ing purposes, is mounted for adjustment It should be understood that the scale on along the letter-space scale 5 and relatively the ribbon should correspond to the letterto the margin stop pointers 1() and 11. 'Ihe space scale if used on a wide-carriage maline-rentering scale ribbon l2 ,provided chine, so that the line-centering device may with double letter-space indications or ou be used in connection with the letter-space graduations numbered from left to right or scales of any of the standard machines. reversely to the numbering of the letter- Other features and advantages willherespace scale 5, and so much of the ribbon as is inafter appear. seen, is thus numbered from 0 to 42, and

v 40. In the accompanying drawings, the line-centering scale ribbon 12 has blank 95 j Figure 1 is a plan view of the front part end portions or tabs extending beyond the of an Underwood typewriting machine hav numbered line-centering indications thereing the present invention applied theretO. on. The end parts of the line-centering scale Figure 2 is a central front-to-rearverribbon 12 at the right and left sides olf. the

tical section of the Samemac'hine pass through respective guide-loops 100 i Figure 3' is an enlarged View 0f the Igllt- 13/and 14 and then make a right angular hand spool-mount or bracket partly 1n verturn and pass at an inclination forward and tical SeCtiOIl 'O11 plaIlES indicated by the Oifdownward @Ver diagonal guides 15 and 16 set line 3 3 of Figure 4, aS Viewed fFOm and are woundupon similar spools 17, of

the right. j which the right-hand one is shown in Fig- 105` Figure 4 is a front elevation as viewed 11i-0S 3 and. 4 The ends or tabs of the linefI'On the left ill Figure 3, partly in Vertical centering scale ribbon 12 are attached t() j section. i the respective spools, for exam le, Aby

4An Underwood typewriting' machine, means ol" hooks, of which the right-hand 5 parts of whichl are shown in the drawings, hook 18 is shown in Figure 3, and the spools 110 22.and 23 fixed upon the outer ends of the I respective spool axles 19 and 20, to wind vthe line-centering scale ribbon 12 upon one spool while it unwinds from the other spool, in order thereby to tautly draw the scale ribbon back and forth alongv the letterspace scale 5. The respective spool axles 19 and 2O are journaled in right and left spool-mounts lor brackets 24 and 25, shown as in the form of casings enclosing the spools and having tabs at their upper ends secured to the opposite sides of the machine frame 1 by means of the usual screws 26 and 27 which are ordinarily employed for securing in place the front frame bar or plate 4, upon which is mounted the letterspace scale 5. After leaving the diagonal guide edges and 16, the scale ribbon12 may pass through additional inclined guideloops 28 and 29 and then be further guided by means of bent-down tongues 30, of which one is shown in Figures 3 and 4.v

The invention provides convenient means for centering between the two adjusted margin-stops 7 and 8 a line of writing shorter than the distance between these stops and regardless of the position to Which the stops may be adjusted and the operation thereof may be substantially as follows: Referring to Figure 1, it will be noted that the righthand margin-stop 7 is adjusted to the letterspace 9 on the letter-space scale 5, which will determine the extreme point of the beginning of the line of lwriting at the letterspace 9, while the left-hand margin-stop 8 is shown as adjusted so that its pointer 11 indicates the letter-space 70 on the letter-space scale 5, and in view of the fact that the carriage 2, in the usual construction, will travel four letter-spaces beyondl the point at which the left-hand marginstop is set, the carriage would be stopped at 74 on the letter-space scale 5. For example, suppose it is desired to center the short line Underwood Typewriter Company midway between the letter-space scale of indications 9 and 74, then the 'typist will wind the line-centering scale ribbon 12 on the lett-hand spool 17, by rotating the left-hand handle-knob 23, thereby to move or slide the graduated middle part of the line-centering scale ribbon'12 along the letter-space scale 5 -from the central or-normal position of this ribbonshown in the drawings, until the double line-space indication 9 on the line-centering scale ribbon 12, corresponding to the Setting of the right-hand margin-stop 7 Ifor commencement lof the line of writing, falls in line with the letter-space indication 74 beyond the pointer 11 of the` lett-hand margin-stop 8 determinative of the end of the line of Writing. Both spools may be rotated alternately for fine and accurate alignment of the indications 9 and 74. Then the typist lshifts the carriage 2 to the right until it is stopped by the right-hand margin-stop 7, with the carriage-pointer 6 at the letterspace indication 9 on the letter-space scale 5. Next, the typist taps the space-bar of the machine to count off or spell out the number of letters and spaces in the sentence, which, in the example given, will be twentyeight letter-spaces. When this is done, she will note that the carriage-pointer 6 has stopped between the line-centering indications 27 and 28 Von the line-centering scale 12, and because of the fact that in the particular example selected the carriagepointer 6 stops between two of' the double line-space indications, the typistwill give the space-bar one more tap which Will bring the carriage-pointer 6 to the line-centering indication 27. The typist now againreturns the carriage 2 back toward the right until its pointer 6 stands at the letter-space indication 27 on the letter-space scale 5, at which point the line of writing is to begin. The operation is similar for any point of adjustment of the margin-stops 7 and 8, and for any length of line to be written between these stops.

Variations may be resorted to within the scope of the invention, and portions of the ,imlplrovements may be used without others.

aving thus described my invention7 I claim:

. 1. A line-centering equipment for a typewriting machine having a traveling carriage and margin-stops to determine-normal positions of said carriage for line-commencement and line-ending, including a stationary scale lattached to the frame of the machine and having single letter-space gradations numerically indicated in descending order, a double letter-space scalehaving gradations numerically indicated in ascending order, said double letter-spaceA scale comprising a tape extending in a single reach across said stationary scale, the graduated portion of said tape at least twice the length of the graduated portion of said stationary scale, said tape shiftable from end to end to align any gradation thereon with any gradation of said stationary scale, take-up spools for winding up opposite ends of said tape, brackets on the framefof the machine,

said spools mounted on said brackets, and finger-pieces to alternately rotate said spools and-draw the scale-bearing portion of said tape tautly back and forth across said single letter-space scale to align a gradation on said tape indicative of normal line-com-y mencement with asingle-space gradation yfor a typewriting machine having a traveling carriage of any Width and margin-stops to determine normal positions of said carriage for line-commencement and line-ending, including a stationary scale-bar mounted on the frame ofthe machine and having single letter-space grada-tions numerically indicated in descending order, a double letter-space scale having gradations numerically indicated. in ascending order, said double letter-space scale comprising a tape.

extending in a single reach across'said stationary scale-bar, said tape having a graduated portion at least twice the length of the graduated portion of Vsaid stationary scale-bar and a tab portion at each end of said graduated tape portion, said tape shiftable from end to end of its graduated portion to align any gradation thereon with any gradation of said stationary scale-bar, take-up spools for Winding up opposite ends of said tape, said tab portions attached tol said spools, brackets onthe frame of the machine, said spools mounted on said brackets, finger-pieces to alternately rotate said spools and draw the graduated portion of said tape tautly back and forth across said single letter-space scale to finely align a gradation on said tapeindicative of normal line-commencement with a single-space gradation on said stationary scale-bar indicative of normal line-ending, said carriage havingal pointer to designate the gradation on said tape determining the letter-space for commencing typing of the line to be centered, and unitar means at each end of said scale-bar to spool-mount brackets and said scale-bar to the frame of the machine.

BENJAMIN F. BARKER.

etachably lmount saidl p 

